Protests in Portland: How civil unrest affects the unhoused

Photo by Taufiq Klinkenborg from Pexels

Protests in Portland, Oregon, have garnered much media attention, and have been a consistent presence in the city for over two months. Police tactics from the local Bureau as well as Federal agents have sparked both outrage and support, mostly depending on one’s political leanings. People are risking their health and safety to be out in the streets, practicing their First Amendment rights and taking part in civil disobedience in response to police brutality. 

But the people in the streets each night- protestors and police alike- get to go home and wash off the tear gas afterward. What about the people who don’t have a home to go to? 

Homeless During Black Lives Matter

HOMELESS DURING PROTESTS

As if being homeless during the COVID-19 pandemic was not difficult enough, homeless people are being caught up in the Black Lives Matter protests by police brutality. It had to take a pandemic and movement for outreach workers to lend a helping hand to the homeless community in downtown Portland. The police brutality that homeless people have faced in the midst of the protests are uncalled for, as is police brutality altogether. Because they have nowhere else to go, and the safety on the streets is threatened, the homeless population in downtown is struggling between the coronavirus and police actions. In the situation of a protest, the police force does not have any strategy at avoiding attacks on the homeless. Everyone that is out on the streets will be grouped as protesters, and all hell breaks loose. Portable bathrooms that are provided for the homeless population have been destroyed by skirmishes between the police force and provoked protesters. The homeless population was harmed, their basic human rights being assaulted. The homeless are being attacked for just being on the streets. In Los Angeles, police fired rubber bullet to an old man's face. The homeless man is 75 years old, and wheelchair-bound. This goes to show that the police force do not care whether or not they fire at protesters, or the homeless. It is extremely dangerous for the homeless to be out in the streets, but they have nowhere else to go. For more details on attacks against the homeless during the BLM protests, click this link. 

Sources :https://www.oregonlive.com/news/2020/06/portlands-downtown-homeless-community-increasingly-caught-in-police-protest-tactics.html

https://abc7.com/lapd-chief-wants-to-fire-police-detective-who-shot-homeless-veteran/5893008/

By Lyn Loo